There is a power above circumstance and
accident that controls them, as gravitation controls the motions of
material things. We can only turn them at our will, and make use of
them, as the machinist turns the power of gravitation to serve his
purposes.
Quick-witted persons are those who have the power of rapidly seeing the
relations of things in every-day life,--whose Thoughts grasp, and whose
Imaginations shape with dextrous rapidity, the little accidents of the
hour, and turn them to advantage. Persons of resource are those who have
a deeper Thought, a more earnest Imagination; and who can therefore
lay hold of great principles, and unusual circumstances, with a
power adequate to meet great 'emergencies, and to make use of great
opportunities. If we trample sluggishness and indifference under our
feet, if we do with a will whatever we undertake, determining to do it
as well as we possibly can, we shall become quick-witted in small works,
and full of resource in large undertakings.
The Imagination is often talked of as if it were a useless part of our
being, which should be put down and discouraged as much as possible;
as if the Creator had endowed us with a power we did not need. So
imaginative persons are spoken of with contempt, and here there is more
justice; for, in common parlance, to be imaginative means to have the
Imagination developed out of all proportion with the other powers.
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